The Associated Press, which usually avoids offering political commentary, bluntly stated on Monday that "President Donald Trump can’t be counted on to give accurate information to Americans when violent acts are unfolding abroad."
The AP proceeds to take down three of Trump's recent misstatements about overseas violence.
[salon_video id="14775569"]As the Associated Press pointed out, Trump's own administration officials have contested the notion that his proposal constitutes a travel ban. "It’s not a travel ban, remember. It’s the travel pause. What the president said, for 90 days, we were going to pause in terms of people from those countries coming to the United States that would give me time to look at additional vetting," said Homeland Security Director John Kelly on Fox News on May 28.
The Associated Press noted that Trump took London Mayor Sadiq Khan's comment out of context. In fact, the AP reports, Khan was telling citizens not to be alarmed about the heavier police presence they would see in their city. He had also said that "the threat level remains at severe. Severe means an attack across the country is still highly likely."
The Associated Press also called out Trump for describing a violent incident in which a lone gunman killed 37 people at a casino-hotel complex in the Philippine city of Manila as a "terrorist attack in Manila." In fact, the AP notes, authorities believe that the motivation behind the attack was robbery rather than terrorism.
Trump's irresponsible tweeting has been a headache for him since the 2016 presidential campaign, although his more glaringly problematic tweets were called out to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on an episode of "The Today Show" on Monday morning.
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